F-4 Phantom - Aires Resin wheel bays

[Nocoolname]

Hi Folks

 

Has anyone here any experience with fitting the Aires resin wheel bay for the 1/48 Hasegawa F-4 Phantom (any version)? The instructions provide little useful guidance around how much of the resin or the kit to reduce to provide for a decent fit and the searches I've made for builds that have included the parts reveal little about the effort that was needed to ensure a good fit. I've already reduced the resin and the kit parts to the extent that they're now semi-transparent but still no joy. I have emailed Aires for advice and I am awaiting a reply. If anyone has experience with these parts and can share some tips that would be most appreciated.

 

Many thanks

 

Nocool

[wschurr]

You're going to take the inside of the kit plastic and the outside of the resin to as thin as you can make them; to the point of translusence. Keep dry fitting as you go and use caution! I love Aires detail but getting things to fit requires a little time and patience.

[Nocoolname]

9 hours ago, wschurr said:

You're going to take the inside of the kit plastic and the outside of the resin to as thin as you can make them; to the point of translusence. Keep dry fitting as you go and use caution! I love Aires detail but getting things to fit requires a little time and patience.

I've thinned the top of the wheel bay (i.e. the part that would glue to the plastic upper of the wing) and thinned the plastic it would be glued to, to the translucense you suggest but the part is still too 'thick' to allow for the wings to be cemented together, not withstanding the fact that the contour of the wheel bay part that meets the lower wing section doesn't seem to conform to that of the kit part. Do I need to trim down the 'rim' of the wheel bay part that is to be glued to the lower wing also?

 

Cheers

[Bozothenutter]

Oh hell yeah!

Thin top of wing

Thin bottom of wing along the edges

Thin roof of resin part

Pray

[Red Dot]

12 hours ago, Nocoolname said:

I've thinned the top of the wheel bay (i.e. the part that would glue to the plastic upper of the wing) and thinned the plastic it would be glued to, to the translucense you suggest but the part is still too 'thick' to allow for the wings to be cemented together, not withstanding the fact that the contour of the wheel bay part that meets the lower wing section doesn't seem to conform to that of the kit part. Do I need to trim down the 'rim' of the wheel bay part that is to be glued to the lower wing also?

 

Cheers

Yes, you need to angle the edges of the resin bay too.

 

Even doing this, you will still have to bend the wing over the bay to make it fit, but it is possible.

 

Carefully thin the bays until you are just going though the resin, and also thin the plastic wings.

 

Andy

[Nocoolname]

7 minutes ago, Red Dot said:

Yes, you need to angle the edges of the resin bay too.

 

Even doing this, you will still have to bend the wing over the bay to make it fit, but it is possible.

 

Carefully thin the bays until you are just going though the resin, and also thin the plastic wings.

 

Andy

Thanks Andy

 

I’m beginning to wonder if they’re worth the hassle to be honest.

[Red Dot]

Yes, they are. The detail is far better than that of the kit.

 

Keep going, they do fit eventually

 

Andy

[spruecutter96]

Unfortunately, most resin manufacturers never seem to do trial-fits with their products. For every comment of "it just drops into place" (extremely rare), I have seen dozens of comments along the lines of "why do I have to sand so much resin off to even get it close?". 

 

Maybe one day we'll get a maker who actually make their products to "drop in" and pay real attention to how their stuff will be used. I have even seen a couple of resin reviews which actively recommended NOT buying a product, as it was just about impossible to get it to fit. I've also read several build-reviews which stated they had used the kit's cockpit-tub and added the most obvious resin parts to it, to avoid endless hassle with using the entire replacement cockpit tub. 

 

Chris.  

[scotthldr]

As others have said thin the upper and lower wing parts until translucent and the same again with the wheel bays . You’ll then have to chamfer the wheel bay edges. Is it worth the hassle, only you can decide that but I know where you’re coming from having installed them 3 times. Aires stuff although pleasing to the eye are renowned for being tight fitting.

[jpk]

Aires doesn't make a set for the Hasegawa F-4B, only the thick wing Phantoms. They do for the Academy B but not any other kit. I had removed the wheel wells on my B thinking I would find a set before finding out they only made the thick wing and Academy B. I'm just gonna thin the thick wing set to where it will fit...I hope.